Angels Lose, but Feel Special : Baseball: Early offense, victories give team confidence of a contender.

By BOB NIGHTENGALE

April 8, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MINNEAPOLIS — The Angels boarded a flight Thursday after losing to the Minnesota Twins, 7-4, in a game of blown opportunities at the plate, botched plays in the field and ineffective pitching by one of their aces.

If that wasn’t enough, they faced the cold reality of spending the weekend bundled up in Milwaukee.

You know something funny?

The Angels never felt better about themselves.

They left town knowing it’s actually possible to win games in the Metrodome. Manager Buck Rodgers realizes now that this team has more offensive prowess than any since he joined the Angels; reliever Mike Butcher believes he is finally back and shortstop Gary DiSarcina is proud to say the feud between him and umpire Mark Johnson is over.

“I thought we had confidence coming into this season,” DiSarcina said, “but it’s even greater now. It kind of reaffirmed what we’ve been thinking all along. We’ve got a good team.”

The Angels (2-1) have already matched their Metrodome victory total of the last two seasons.

“This hasn’t been one of our favorite ballparks to play in,” Rodgers said. “Minnesota has kicked our . . . pretty regularly. We at least proved we can win in this stadium.”

The Angels simply couldn’t win Thursday as starter Chuck Finley lasted only 4 2/3 innings, yielding eight hits and six runs (five earned) while the offense self-destructed. The Angels had eight baserunners in the first three innings but somehow came away empty-handed.

They were caught stealing three times, twice in the first two innings, but it was their ineptitude in the third that eventually cost them any chance of winning. They loaded the bases against Scott Erickson with one out and had Eduardo Perez at the plate and Greg Myers on deck. Both struck out. And the Twins took full advantage.

Minnesota scored four runs in the fifth, which featured a two-run double by Dave Winfield and a two-out, run-scoring single by Scott Leius. The Angels fell behind, 7-0, after six innings and couldn’t recover.

“The key, though, was that we never panicked,” said DiSarcina, who is hitting .417 this season. “I guarantee you they never were able to relax.”

Indeed, the Angels wound up getting 14 hits, including a two-run homer by Chili Davis that cut the deficit to 7-4, but Twin closer Rick Aguilera quickly ended any idea of a comeback. Still. . . .

“It’s just nice to get off to a start like this because the start of a season really gets magnified,” Rodgers said. “When you get off to a good start, you just have a good feeling things will work out.

“Of course, I got off to a real good start in Milwaukee (in 1982) and I got fired in June.”

The Angels were perhaps most encouraged by Butcher’s performance. He was battered all spring, compiling a 14.81 earned-run average. Opponents batted .442 against him, but he abruptly regained his form Thursday. Butcher gave up one hit in 1 2/3 innings and woke up the crowd of 13,926 by firing a fastball over the head of Twin shortstop Jeff Reboulet.

“He was getting a little too comfortable in there,” Butcher said, grinning. “But really, this was the best I felt all year.

“I woke up at 3:45 in the morning thinking about what was going wrong. I finally told myself, ‘Just go out there and throw the ball instead of being somebody you’re not.’

“It worked.”

Finally, there was DiSarcina. He left town feeling good about his teammates and with new respect for umpire Johnson. A previous encounter this spring resulted in DiSarcina’s ejection, threats by hitting coach Rod Carew and a police escort for the umpiring crew.

“He buried the grudge with me,” DiSarcina said, “and I respect him now more than ever. He told me, ‘Hey, whatever happened between me and you is over and done with.’ That showed me a lot, and believe me, I won’t forget it.

“Maybe we didn’t win today, but you know, there was something kind of special about this day.”